Copyist&#39;s sheet stand with automatic line indicator



April 1963 c. R. GALLAMOS 3,087,462

COPYIST'S summ- STAND WITH AUTOMATIC LINE INDICATOR 2 Failed 001;. 15, 1959 United States Patent 3,087,462 COPYISTS SHEET STAND WITH AUTOMATIC LINE INDICATOR Constancio R. Gallamos, ACCFA, 2544 Taft Ave., Manila, Republic of the Philippines Filed Oct. 13, 1959, Ser. No. 846,211 4 Claims. (Cl. Mil-$3) This invention relates to a light portable stand which will hold in an upright or inclined position the sheet from which a copyist, such as a s-tenographer, typist, linotypist or typesetter, is copying his or her job. It is provided with a bar to single out the particular line being copied from the sheet at the moment.

Stenographers and typis-ts in oifices as well as linotypists and typesetters in printing presses and publishing establish ments have always been faced with the need for an appropriate stand which will hold in an upright position the sheet or sheets from which they are copying, and which, at a touch on a lever, will single out the particular line to be copied at the moment. While it is true that the more resourceful among the above-mentioned employees use improvised sheet stands, yet these stands are far from being satisfactory as they are not provided with a bar to single out instantly the particular line to be copied. This lack of an unfailing indicator which will single out instantly the particular line to be copied has quite often caused embarrassment not only to the copyist but to the oflice or publishing concern as well. This happens when words and/ or lines are either missed or copied more than once in final form by the copyist whose sight, in one Way or another, slipped or deviated from the continuity of the original being copied. Sometimes such mistakes result in court litigation and in one party being held pecuniarily liable to another.

The objects of this invention are as follows:

(1) To provide a light portable device which will hold in an upright or inclined position the sheet from which a copyist is copying his or her job.

(2) To provide a light portable sheet stand for copyists which will instantly single out from the rest the particular line to be copied at the moment.

(3) To provide a light portable copyists sheet stand which is equipped with detachable props so as to allow the easy and convenient storage of the device when not in use.

(4) To provide a device of the above-described character which will help in maintaining the good health and posture of the typist or copyist in that the device induces said employee to sit up straight or erect and not slouchy when working as what happens when said employee places the material he or she is copying flat on the desk or table,

In the drawings- -FIG. 1 is a perspective view of my invention in its operative position showing the horizontally positioned bar which drops down one line or space lower at every touch on the lever to indicate the particular line to be copied.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the device in its operative position showing the relative positions of the pins, the combination of rods which dislodge the bar to the next lower line, the props which enable the device to stand in its operative position and the main part which holds the sheet or sheets from which the material is being copied.

FIG. 3 is a rear view of the device showing the relative positions of the upstanding portion of the lever and the combination of rods which dislodge the bar to the next lower line, and showing the holes through which are passed the deflected ends of the combination of rods.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the combination of rods and the lever referred to in the next preceding paragraph, detached from the other parts of the device to show how they are arranged or combined.

FIG. 5 is an elevational view of the pair of props which enable the device to stand in its operative position.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the bar which indicates the precise line to be copied at the moment.

FIG. 7 is a detail on the manner by which the rotatable combination of finely toothed members is attached tothe sheet rest.

A rectangular sheet of suitable plain material constitutes the main part of the device, and said part is hereinafter called the sheet rest 1. Its function is to contain or to provide a rest for the sheet or sheets which contain the material being copied.

A straight row of tiny holes are made on each of four strong identical strips shorter in length than the sheet rest 1 and which are designated in the drawings as 2, 3, 4 and 5. Through said tiny holes on each of the above-mentioned four identical strips are passed towards the same direction ordinary or conventional pins 6, one centimeter in length, more or less, and they are then soldered or permanently attached to said strips 2, 3, 4 and 5. Said pins 6 are evenly spaced, each space corresponding to the ordinary single space between typewritten lines or underscorings made by the typewriter on a sheet of paper.

A straight rod or wire 7 is permanently attached longitudinally to each of strips 2, 3, 4 and 5 alongside the straight row of pins '6. Each of the ends 8 of rods 7 which are attached to strips 3 and 5 extend considerably beyond the last pins 6 on each end of the straight rows of pins 6 on said strips 3 and 5. Each of said ends 8 is then curved sidewards towards the same direction and then deflected back towards the line formed by the straight rod 7, thus forming a loop which is at right angles in relation to the pins 6 (FIG. 7). At a point along the straight line formed by straight rod 7, the remainder of each end 8 is then deflected downwards such that said end 8 is pointing towards the same direction to which the pins 6 are pointing and is, therefore, parallel to the latter. Each point of end 8 on strip 3 is then permanently attached to the end '8a of rod 7 on strip 2 such that the fine points of the straight row of pins on strip 2 are pointing towards the fine points of the straight row of pins on the strip 3 in such manner that the fine points of each of the pins 6 on one strip is situated between the fine points of the two pins confronting it from the opposite strip. In this set-up, no straight object, no matter how fine, can be placed between the straight row of fine pin points from one strip and the straight row of fine pin points from the other strip. Thus, should bar 9 (FIG. 6) be placed horizontally in its operative position against the front face of sheet rest 1, the ends 10 of said bar 9 being able to pass easily between the point of one pin 6 in one strip and the point of the nearest pin 6 in the other strip, and the device is made to stand in a perpendicular position, said rod 9 has no chance at all of falling straight down to the bottom of the device.

Strips 4 and '5 are permanently joined together at their ends ti-a and 8, respectively, such that their pins 6 are similarly situated as the pins 6 in strips 2 and 3. Said combination of strips 4 and 5 is then permanently attached along the frontal vertical edge of the left side of sheet rest 1 such that the curved portions or loops 12 of rod 7 are extending outwardly towards the left. Similarly, the combination of strips 2 and 3 is attached permanently to the frontal vertical edge of the right side of sheet rest 1 such that the curved portions or loops 12 of rod 7 are extending outwardly towards the right. However, in the case of combination of strips 2 and 3, its attachment to sheet res-t 1 is such that it can be rotated sidewardly. To

attain this, ends 8a on strip 2 are inserted into the loops of strips 13 and then said strips 13 are soldered or otherwise permanently attached to sheet rest 1.

The two combinations of strips 2 and 3 and strips 4 and 5 are therefore parallel to each other, both being, vertically positioned against the frontal vertical edges of the sheet rest 1, such that the uppermost pin 6 in strip 2 is of the same level as the uppermost pin 6 in strip 4 when the device is set on its operative position. In this set-up, it follows naturally that the uppermost pin 6 in the strip 3 is of the same level as the uppermost pin in the strip 5.

One end of a suitable spring 14 is attached permanently to the rear of sheet rest 1, and its other end is passed through opening 15 on said sheet rest 1 and then permanently attached to the under-side of strip 2. Thus, combination of strips 2 and 3 can be rotated sidewardly towards the right by simply pushing with a finger at semicircular strip 16 which is permanently attached to the side of strip 3. When pressure on semi-circular strip 16 is removed, the combination of strips 2 and 3 returns to its original upright position by reason of the spring 14 which is permanently attached to the under-side of strip 2. The purpose of making combination of strips 2 and 3 rotatable sidewardly towards the right is to enable the bar 9 to be taken off immediately from its operative position whenever desired, as when it is only halfway down and there is nothing more to be copied by the copyist on the same sheet. In this manner, precious time is saved which would otherwise be wasted if said bar 9 should be worked down to the last pair of pins at the bottom of the device by means of the lever 17.

The purpose of the curved or looped ends 12 of rods 7 on strips 3 and 5 is to enable the bar 9 to be placed or laid down with utmost case on its operative position on the corresponding upwardly pointing uppermost pins 6 on strips 2 and 4, and then to enable the same bar 9 to be picked up easily after it has been dislodged from the lowermost pair of pins 6.

Straight wire or bar 9 (FIG. 6) is curved at both ends 11 such that each point of curvature is immediately at the inner side of the straight row of confronting pins 6 when said bar 9 is placed horizontally in its operative position on the front face of the sheet rest 1. An ordinary pin 10 which is capable of easily passing horizontally through each space or gap between the point of a pin 6 from one row of pins and the nearest point of another pin 6 from the other row of pins, is permanently attached to each end of the straight portion of bar 9 in such a manner that the head of said pin 10 extends out of the line of confronting rows of pins 6 when said bar 9 is placed horizontally on the front face of the sheet rest 1, said pins '10 having been made extensions of the straight portion of the said bar 9.

A lever is formed by inserting a T-formed suitable rod 17 through the hole 18 at the center of the lower portion of the sheet rest 1 and by inserting a suitable metal peg 19 through a hole drilled through said rod 17 and then permanently attaching horizontally the ends of metal peg 19 to the opposite vertical sides of hole 18. The cross 20 of the T-formed rod 17 is located at the front side of the sheet rest I. Said rod 17 is then bent upwardly at a point about a couple of centimeters away from the fulcrum at peg 19 and at the rear side of sheet rest 1, such that the upwardly bent arm 21 of rod 17 is at right angles with the rest of the same rod.

Two straight identical wires or rods 22 (FIG. 4) of the same length are attached permanently at their mid-points each to one end of a rod 23 such that the resulting combination is in the form of an H, the identical rods 22 being parallel to each other. All the four ends 24 of said two identical rods 22 are then deflected towards the same direction such that they are all parallel to each other and are at right angles with the rest of said identical rods 22. All of these deflected ends 24 are of the same length.

Each end 24 is then passed from the rear of the sheet rest 1 through a corresponding hole 25 on the lengthwise or vertical edges of said sheet rest 1. All of said deflected ends 24 are now therefore located at the front face of sheet rest 1. A straight rod 26 is then permanently attached to the ends or points of the deflected ends 24 at the left side of the front face of sheet rest 1, and an identical rod 26 is similarly permanently attached to the points of the deflected ends 24 at the right side of the front face of said sheet rest 1. Said identical rods 26 are parallel to each other and each one is immediately adjacent to the frame formed by strips 2 and 3 and strips 4 and 5. Furthermore, each of said identical rods 26 is parallel to the confronting straight rows of pins 6 on the strips 2, 3, 4 and 5.

The ends of an U-formed short wire 27 is permanently attached to the middle part of the rod 23 such that said upstanding U-formed wire 27 is at right angles with rod 23. In attaching permanently U-formed wire 27 t0 rod 23, a portion of the end of the upwardly bent arm 21 of rod 17 which is part of the lever, is inserted into the loop of said U-formed wire 27, such that said end of said deflected arm 21 is capable of an easy back-andforth movement only within the confines of the loop of U-formed wire 27.

It is clear, therefore, that when the device is made to stand on its operative position and the bar 9 is placed at its topmost position horizontally against the front face of the sheet rest 1, the pins 10 would be resting on the upwardly pointing topmost pins 6 on the strips 2 and 4. Thus, when the cross 20 of the T-formed lever is pressed down the upwardly bent arm 21 of the rod 17 pushes up the whole combination of rods 22, 23 and 26, and in so doing, the horizontally positioned bar 9 is dislodged by the pair of vertically positioned parallel straight rods 26 from the upwardly pointing corresponding pins 6 at the topmost of the parallel rows of pins on strips 2 and 4. When bar 9 is dislodged, it falls down horizontally on the corresponding downwardly pointing pins 6 on the strips 3 and 5, and then, the pressure on the cross 20 having been released, the whole combination of rods 22, 23 and 26 falls back to its original position by force of gravity, and consequently, said bar 9, by its own weight, inevitably falls down again horizontally on the next lower corresponding upwardly pointing pins 6 on the strips 2 and 4-. To clarify further, by reason of the backwardly inclined position of the device when in its operative position, each pin in the strips 2 and 4 is pointing or slantng upwardly, so that bar 9 is enabled to stay put. By the same token, the pins in the strips 3 and 5 are pointing or slanting downwardly, so that bar 9 has necessarily to fall back down to the next lower corresponding pins on strips 2 and 4 everytime said bar 9 lands on the corresponding downwardly pointing pins on strips 3 and 5 after it is dislodged from its resting position on said strips 2 and 4. It is clear from the above that it is only when the cross 21 is pressed down that the pair of vertically positioned identical rods 26 dislodge bar 9 horizontally from the corresponding upwardly pointing or slanting pins 6, thus repeating the process as already described above. The distance between each pin in each of the rows of pins is equal to the distance between two adjacent typewritten lines, so that each time bar 9 falls down to the next lower upwardly pointing corresponding pins 6, it invariably indicates the next lower line to be copied, assuming that the material being copied is single spaced.

The purpose of the curved ends 11 of the bar 9 is to prevent said member from slipping sidewards.

At a level which is a little below the level of the lowermost pins 6 of the rows of pins, a pair of semi-circular strips 28 are permanently attached to the sheet rest 1 so as to serve as supports for the sheet or sheets from which the material is to be copied.

At the rear of the lower portion of each longitudinal or vertical side of sheet rest 1 is a pair of identical anchor strips 29 permanently attached thereto so as to allow the deflected portion 3 of each of a pair of props 31 (FIG. 5) to be inserted into said anchor strips 29 and to remain engaged therein until pulled out. Said pair of props 31 enable the device to stand uprightly in its operative position. Said props 31 can be inserted into the corresponding pair of anchor strips 29 in order to adjust the degree of inclination of the device which may be best suited to the convenience of the typist or copyist. A portion 32 of suitable width of the lower endmost side of the sheet rest 1 is curved horizontally towards the front so as to serve as base for the device.

To each of the upper corners of the sheet rest 1 is permanently attached a curved peg or wire 33 whereon to attach any suitable elastic material which would hold or press down the sheet containing the material being copied.

Having thus described my invention in detail, I now present my claims which I desire to be protected by Letters Patent:

1. A copyists sheet stand comprising a sheet rest adapted to contain and hold sheets of paper uprightly, a hole at the center of the lower portion of said sheet rest, a pair of toothed members having teeth with confronting points being permanently attached along one vertical edge of said sheet rest, and an identical pair of toothed members having teeth with confronting points being similarly attached to the other vertical edge of said sheet rest, said two pairs of toothed members being parallel to each other, a T-formed rod which is inserted into the hole at the center of the lower portion of the sheet rest and permanently attached to said sheet nest by means of a horizontally positioned peg inserted through a crosswise hole on said T formed member and the ends of said horizontally positioned peg being permanently attached to said sheet rest, thus forming a lever or balance such that the cross of the T of said lever is horizontally positioned and is located at the front face of the sheet rest, an H-formed combination of identical rods, the four free ends of which are deflected towards the same direction and, being parallel to each other, are inserted, from the back of the sheet rest, through corresponding holes on said sheet rest such that the cross of the H is vertically positioned, the portion of said T rod on the rear of the sheet stand being connected to said H- formed rods, a straight rod being then permanently attached to the tips of the pair of deflected ends now located at one vertical side or the front face of said sheet rest, and another identical rod being similarly attached to the tips of the pair of deflected ends located at the other vertical side of the front face of said sheet rest, said identical rods being, therefore, vertically positioned, a bar line indicator positioned horizontally against the front face of the sheet rest with its opposite ends resting on correspondingly upwardly pointing teeth of the toothed members, the ends of said line indicator being capable of passing freely, when in operation, between the confronting points of the teeth of each pair of toothed members.

2. A copyists sheet stand of claim 1 in which the horizontally positioned bar is a straight rod both ends of which being capable of passing easily through all spaces between the teeth of the confronting finely toothed members, limiting means being provided on said bar at each point immediately beside the inner side of the line formed by the rows of confronting pins, so as to prevent said bar from slipping sidewards while the device is in op eration.

3. A copyists sheet stand of claim 1, the said teeth being all of the same length, evenly spaced and in a straight row, each pair of said toothed members, being joined together at their ends such that the teeth of one member are directly confronting the teeth of the other in such manner that the fine point of each of the teeth on one member is situated between the fine points of two adjacent teeth in the other member such that the ends of a bar can easily pass through any and all of said gaps between the fine point of a tooth on one memher and the fine point of a tooth on the other member, one pair of said toothed members is capable of being pivoted sideWardly-outwardly.

4. A copyists sheet stand of claim 1 with the arm of the T-formed lever located at the rear side of said sheet rest being upwardly bent and a portion of its end inserted into the loop of an U-formed member the ends of which are attached to the center of the vertically positioned cross of the H in the 'H-formed combination of identical straight rods such that said end of said upwardly bent arm is enabled to make an easy back-andforth movement only within the confines of the loop of said U-formed member.

Coffey July 16, 1901 Metcalf Oct. 8, 1940 

1. A COPYIST''S SHEET STAND COMPRISING A SHEET REST ADAPTED TO CONTAIN AND HOLD SHEETS OF PAPER UPRIGHTLY, A HOLE AT THE CENTER OF THE LOWER PORTION OF SAID SHEET REST, A PAIR OF TOOTHED MEMBERS HAVING TEETH WITH CONFRONTING POINTS BEING PERMANENTLY ATTACHED ALONG ONE VERTICAL EDGE OF SAID SHEET REST, AND AN IDENTICAL PAIR OF TOOTHED MEMBERS HAVING TEETH WITH CONFRONTING POINTS BEING SIMILARLY ATTACHED TO THE OTHER VERTICAL EDGE OF SAID SHEET REST, SAID TWO PAIRS OF TOOTHED MEMBERS BEING PARALLEL TO EACH OTHER, A T-FORMED ROD WHICH IS INSERTED INTO THE HOLE AT THE CENTER OF THE LOWER PORTION OF THE SHEET REST AND PERMANENTLY ATTACHED TO SAID SHEET REST BY MEANS OF A HORIZONTALLY POSITIONED PEG INSERTED THROUGH A CROSSWISE HOLE ON SAID T-FORMED MEMBER AND THE ENDS OF SAID HORIZONTALLY POSITIONED PEG BEING PERMANENTLY ATTACHED TO SAID SHEET REST, THUS FORMING A LEVER OR BALANCE SUCH THAT THE CROSS OF THE T OF SAID LEVER IS HORIZONTALLY POSITIONED AND IS LOCATED AT THE FRONT FACE OF THE SHEET REST, AN H-FORMED COMBINATION OF IDENTICAL RODS, THE FOUR FREE ENDS OF WHICH ARE DEFLECTED TOWARDS THE SAME DIRECTION AND, BEING PARALLEL TO EACH OTHER, ARE INSERTED, FROM THE BACK OF THE SHEET REST, THROUGH CORRESPONDING HOLES ON SAID SHEET REST SUCH THAT THE CROSS OF THE H IS VERTICALLY POSITIONED, THE PORTION OF SAID T ROD ON THE REAR OF THE SHEET STAND BEING CONNECTED TO SAID HFORMED RODS, A STRAIGHT ROD BEING THEN PERMANENTLY ATTACHED TO THE TIPS OF THE PAIR OF DEFLECTED ENDS NOW LOCATED AT ONE VERTICAL SIDE OF THE FRONT FACE OF SAID SHEET REST, AND ANOTHER IDENTICAL ROD BEING SIMILARLY ATTACHED TO THE TIPS OF THE PAIR OF DEFLECTED ENDS LOCATED AT THE OTHER VERTICAL SIDE OF THE FRONT FACE OF SAID SHEET REST, SAID IDENTICAL RODS BEING, THEREFORE, VERTICALLY POSITIONED, A BAR LINE INDICATOR POSITIONED HORIZONTALLY AGAINST THE FRONT FACE OF THE SHEET REST WITH ITS OPPOSITE ENDS RESTING ON CORRESPONDINGLY UPWARDLY POINTING TEETH OF THE TOOTHED MEMBERS, THE ENDS OF SAID LINE INDICATOR BEING CAPABLE OF PASSING FREELY, WHEN IN OPERATION, BETWEEN THE CONFRONTING POINTS OF THE TEETH OF EACH PAIR OF TOOTHED MEMBERS. 